Briton charged in gay sex case in Uganda ‘on his way back home’

A gay Briton who faced jail in Uganda for possessing pictures of him having sex with another man has been freed.

Bernard Randall was ordered to leave Africa within 12 hours after the charges were dropped. In court, prosecutors said he was being deported because he ‘kept on corrupting Uganda’s youth’.

The 65-year-old was put on trial after his intimate images were published in an anti-gay newspaper. They were on his laptop, which was stolen in a break-in.

His Ugandan partner, Albert Cheptoyek, faces seven years in prison for the more serious charge of gross indecency.

The 30-year-old claimed Mr Randall was treated unfairly.

He said: ‘They deported him because he’s gay, because the government does not want gays. This is what the judge said, that we don’t allow homosexuality.’

Mr Randall came out as gay after his wife of 40 years died. He first travelled to Uganda, regarded as one of the most homophobic nations in the world, in 2011. Gay women and men are regularly threatened with violence and lesbians have been subjected to ‘corrective rapes’.

A tough anti-gay bill was recently passed by Uganda’s MPs.

Last December, Mr Randall said the law would lead to more attacks on gay people as it ‘inflames the passions of the more bigoted’.

The retired computer engineer, from Faversham, Kent, also warned of more murders similar to that of David Kato, a gay rights campaigner beaten to death in 2011.

Mr Kato had successfully sued a newspaper after it outed him as a gay man. His picture and address were published under the headline ‘hang them’.

Mr Randall said he was looking forward to going home to see his family.